LEKCHE. 148 LESMA. Academy. In ISfi.! lie won a traveling prize that enabled "him to visit Italy. Upon his return he settled at Diisseldorf. His best works are inte- riors nf churelies or convents, in which scenes of monastic life in the Middle Ages are portrayed with humor and eliarm. lie was also a wood- engraver, caricaturist, and author. LERDO DE TEJADA, lar'dA da tft-iiU'iii'i, Mkukl (lSI4-(il). A Mexican statesmun. l)orn in Vera Cruz. In 1855 he was a|)pointed Secre- tary of the Treasury in the Ailministriition of President Comonfort. ^ position which enabled him to frame a law designed to iliminish the importance of the clergy' and of public corpora- tions, and by the provisions of which they were prevented from owning landed ])roperty. The radical nature of this measure, which was aimed at the Conservative or reactionary party, caused his retirement in 1857. In 1S5!). after the acces- sion of Juarez to the Presidency, Lerdo again be- came Secretary of the Treasury, and seized the ojiportunity to resume his attack u|)on the re- aetiouaries. by carrying through a law for nationalizing the laniled property of the clergy •and placing the religious orders under Grovern- ment inspection and control. In 1800 he became a judge of the Supreme Court. His friends made aii unsuccessful attempt to elect him to the Presi- •deney. LERDO DE TEJADA, Seb.v.stian (1825-89). President of Mexico. He was born at .lalapa in the Province of Xcra Cruz, was ediicatcd in the Seminary of Puebla, and afterwards studied law in the City of Mexico. He was admitted to the bar in 1851, became a judge of the Supreme Court in 1855. and two years later was made Minister of Foreign AlTairs. Elected to Congress in 18(il, he was chosen president of that body. In 18C,3 he was the first Minister of .Tustice. and then Minister of Foreign Affairs, always allied vith the Liberal Party. He was one of the most prominent leaders in opposition to the French intervention in Mexico, served the Pro- visional Oovernment of .Tuarez faithfully wh.ile he was a figitive and exile, and preserved a con- sistent attitude of antagonism to the Emperor Maximilian, whose death may be cliarged justly to Lerdo de Tejada and .Juarez, (m the return of the Re]niblican Ciovernnient to the capital in 1807. after the withdrawal of the French, .Juarez Avas reelected President, and Lerdo became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court with a seat in the Cabinet, and on the death of .Juarez, in 1872, he succeedeil him as Presideiit by virtue of his office. In October of that year he was elected President for four years. His administration was marked by considerable progress in economic and con- stitutional development, and the country enjoyed a comparatively long period of peace. In 1875, however, the elements opposed to a strong cen- tral government made common cause with the clerical reactionists, and a revolution broke out in several Mexican States simultaneously. In the Presidential election of 1876 Lerdo was a candi- date for reelection and was opposed by Gen. Por- firio Diaz: Lerdo was declared successful, but his opponents asserted that official influence had been brought to bear on the voters, and that the election was fraudulent. Diaz at the head of an army marched against the capital, and on No- vember 2C. 1876, President I^rdo escaped to Acapulco. He went to the United States early in 1877, and subsequently resided in New York, where he died. LEBICI, Ifi're-che. A city in the Province of tienoa, Italy, four miles southwest of Sar- zana, which' is 65 miles by rail southeast of Genoa (Map: Italy, D 3). It has a small har- bor, and an ancient castle, and in the Middle Ages was the principal city on the (lulf of Spezia. On the bay of Pertusola are silver and lead works. Population (commune), in 1881, 6071; in 1001, 0020. LEBIDA, la're-Da. The capital of the Span- ish province of the same name, situated on the river Segre, a tributary of the Ebro, about 80 miles west of Barcelona, and on the railroad be- tween that city and Saragossa (Map: Spain, F 2). It is built partly on a plain and partly on an eminence on the top of which stands an an- cient castle. The town, which is imi)ortant in a military point of view, is surrounded by walls and a moat and commanded by the citadel. It is a gloomy labyrinth of narrow and crookcil streets, but contains a number of interesting old build- ings, the most prominent being an old cathedral built in the thirteenth century in a strange mix- ture of Byzantine, Gothic, and Moorish archi- tecture and now used as barracks: the Church of San Juan, an interesting Byzantine monument of the twelfth century; several old convents, and a palace of the kings of Aragon. The town has a bishop's palace, a new cathedral in Corinthian style, a normal school, a theological seminary, and several academies, literary and scientific societies. Lerida has manufactures of wool, cot- ton, silk, leather, and glass. Population, in 1887, 21,885; in 1900, 21,352. LOrida is the Celtiberian Ilerda, noted for its heroic resistance to the Konians. It became an episcopal see in the sixth century, and a council was held there in 504. L^RINS, lA'raN', Iles de. A group of small islands in the ilediterranean, otT the southern coast of France, and less than two luiles from the mainland, forming a part of the Department of Alpes-Maritimes. It consists of the two small islands of Sainte-ilarguerite (four miles in cir- cumference) and Saint-Honorat (two miles in circvuiiference), and a number of islets. They were settled at a very early period, and played a prominent part in the monastic life of France. Sainte-Marguerite has a fort, in which were im- prisoned the Man in the Iron Mask and Marshal Bazaine. Saint-Honorat has the ruins of an old monasteiy believed to have been founded by Saint- Honorat" in the fourth century, and now in- habited only by a few monks. Both islands suf- fered greatly from the attacks of pirates. LEBMA, lar'ma, Francisco de Sandovai, y Ro.TAS, Duke of (e.1555-1625). A Spanish states- man. He gained an ascendency over Philip III. when the latter was Infante, and after his acces- sion to the throne in 1598 became his Prime Minister, with the title of Duke of Lerma. He practically ruled Spain until 1018. The peace with England in 1004, and the truce with the Low Countries in 1600, are patent examples of the failure of his foreign policy, w-hile the brutal persecution and expulsion of the ]Ioriscos in 1609 was a blow from which Spain never recovered. Lerma received the cardinal's hat in 1618. The unpopular Minister was forced to restore a large part of the ill- won perquisites of his administra-
